Australian actress Margot Robbie attends the New York premiere of 'Mary Queen Of Scots' at Paris Theater on December 4, 2018 in New York City (STEVEN FERDMAN/AFP/Getty Images)

CROWNED HEADS

“After being abused as a child, she was then slut-shamed for it. Elizabeth I calling herself the ‘Virgin Queen’ meant no one could say those things about her.” – Actress Margot Robbie in conversation last night with Tina Brown and Director Josie Rourke about their new film, Mary Queen of Scots.

‘PERVERSION OF JUSTICE’

A major investigation by The Miami Heraldhas revealed how closely VIP pedophile Jeffrey Epstein worked with his assigned prosecutor to kill an ongoing investigation, limit his jail sentence, and serve it in a private wing of the Palm Beach County jail (which he was allowed to leave six times a week to go to his office.) In a flagrant violation of federal law, Epstein and the prosecutor also hid these arrangements from his victims. The prosecutor in question? America’s current Labor Secretary, Alexander Acosta. As to what Donald Trump has to say about Epstein? This quote from 2002 stands out: “I’ve known Jeff for 15 years. He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it.” This story, revived by the Herald, is going to be the Watergate of sex. Watch out for some major shoes to drop.

OUTRAGE

Doctors Without Borders has shared distressing news: their teams have been providing emergency medical and psychological help to 125 women and girls who were “raped, beaten and brutalized’ during a 10-day spree of violence in South Sudan’s Rubkona county last month. The women, some younger than 10 years old, some older than 65, were then robbed of everything they owned. They tried walking together in larger groups for safety, but were ‘confronted by increasingly larger groups of aggressive assailants each time.” Make a one-time donation to support the organization’s crucial efforts here.

STAND UP WOMAN

“Senator O’Sullivan, Senator Anning, Senator Bernardi, Senator Leyonhjelm. You are cowards.” Sarah Hanson-Young, an Australian Senator, called out her male colleagues by name in a rousing tirade shaming them for “weeks and months of disgusting slurs. I am sick of it” she continued, “and I will name you, because you are not fit to call yourselves men.” The speech came after Senator O’Sullivan commented that she had a “bit of Nick Xenophon in her,” received as a reference to her having sex with a fellow Australian politician.

NEED TO KNOW

“If they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair.” Shirley Chisholm, America’s first black congresswoman, is getting her own statue in Brooklyn, New York. The entrance to Prospect Park will now celebrate Chisholm’s myriad achievements — securing unemployment benefits for domestic workers, expanding the food stamp program, co-founding the Congressional Black Caucus, becoming the first woman and first African American to seek the Democratic Nomination for President and so much more. Great news: Viola Davis has been confirmed to star in the upcoming The Fighting Shirley Chisholm.

France is charging ahead of its European neighbors when it comes to women in the boardroom. 44% of board positions at their largest listed companies are held by women, and let’s hear it for luxury goods brand Kering, where women occupy 56% of managerial positions, 64% of the board, and a third of the executive committee.

Ten times richer than the Queen, Denise Coates — the world’s highest paid woman — took home $337 million last year. If you stacked her wealth in £50 notes (the equivalent of $60), it would rise to twice the height of London’s tallest skyscraper.

The stage was set in Paris last night for a momentous triumph in the history of women’s soccer. For the first time ever, a category at the Ballon D’Or (the Oscars of the sport) would crown the best female player in the world. Then, the man presenting the award asked the winner to twerk.

Two weeks after spending her first day in Washington protesting outside Pelosi’s office, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been given her new office’s location: two doors down from Nancy.

THE TECH WHISPERER

Why do billionaires love the media business? Who’s the smartest person in Silicon Valley? On the latest episode of TBD with Tina Brown Tina interviews Kara Swisher, the tech industry’s most prominent journalist, about all of this and more — including how Kara found her place in the world as a gay woman.

HORRIBLE

A British woman is calling for urgent changes to the law after her rapist was allegedly offered “parental rights” to the child she had as a result of the attack. Read our write-up.

Please, no. “The case against Mr. Weinstein has been unraveling in recent months” is a sentence we never thought we’d have to read.

RUBBING SALT

Michelle Obama thrilled a Brooklyn crowd on Saturday night, declaring, “That whole ‘you can have it all at the same time’ thing, nope, that’s a lie. It’s not always enough to lean in, because that shit doesn’t work all the time!” The aside capped off an already rough week for Sheryl Sandberg.

BEAUTIFUL READ

“I’m broke and mostly friendless, and I’ve wasted my whole life. I don’t understand how I landed this far away from myself.” A 35-year-old’s moving letter to New York magazine’s advice column (and the ensuing response) has struck a chord with thousands of readers for its reflections on shame, ambition, the gig economy and motherhood.

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This is a disgrace. Where is the UK foreign office in all of this? Aras Amiri now joins another British-Iranian, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, in notorious Evin prison on bogus charges. @foreignofficehttps://t.co/DJX0knhdot